Consumers produce the traditional “pot of coffee” by extracting the desired components of roast and ground coffee using an automatic drip coffee maker (ADC) or other form of brewer. Although the flavor and aroma of such a coffee beverage is highly desired and appreciated, the inconvenience of the brewing process has lead to the development of instant coffee and coffee concentrate products that allow the consumer to quickly make a single cup of coffee. Unfortunately, the production processes used to produce such coffee products result in finished products having ratios of flavor and aroma components that are different from fresh brewed coffee. As a result, coffee beverages produced from such concentrated products do not have the highly desired flavor and aroma of fresh brewed coffee.
Since the flavor and aroma of fresh brewed coffee is especially desired by consumers, attempts have been made to improve the flavor and aroma of products made from coffee concentrates. Such attempts include incorporating volatile aroma flavor components into the finished concentrates, and the intensification of such components by the application of thermal energy. While such attempts are appreciated, there remains a need for a liquid coffee concentrate having the same ratios of flavor and aroma components as that of fresh brewed coffee brewed from the same coffee used to produce the coffee concentrate.